Method and system for generating separate e-mail transmissions to copied recipients for providing additional information

ABSTRACT

A method and system for generating e-mail transmissions to copied recipients for providing additional information determines when an e-mail user is sending carbon-copy and/or blind carbon-copy copies of an original e-mail transmission and provides a means for providing a second message containing commentary, explanation and/or clarification information. The copy list is scanned for copied recipients and depending on e-mail program settings, prompts the sender providing an option for generating an additional message in a new window wherein the sender may type additional text. A single additional message may be generated and sent to the copied recipients, individual additional messages may be generated and sent or a first additional message for the carbon-copied recipients and a second additional message for the blind-carbon-copied recipients may be generated and sent. The additional messages may optionally contain the quoted text of the original message, whereby the sender may comment on the original text. The additional messages may also include attachments provided with the original e-mail message.

This application is a reissue of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/125,763, filed on Apr. 18, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,130,887.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to electronic mail systems, andmore specifically, to a method and system for generating an additionale-mail transmission to one or more recipients who are copied on anoriginal electronic message.

2. Background of the Invention

Present-day network systems communicate through a variety of channels inorder to interconnect computers. Electronic mail is in widespread use asa mechanism for communicating messages and for transferring documents,images, sound files and other media files.

E-mail programs and other programs such as Internet browsers havinge-mail capability permit a computer user to create a message that issent to an e-mail server for the recipient of the message. Typicale-mail programs provide a variety of features for sending an e-mailmessage. Often, a computer user generating an e-mail message copies thee-mail message to others using the carbon-copy (cc:) orblind-carbon-copy (bcc:) feature available in typical e-mail programs.The cc: recipients receive a copy of the e-mail and their address isvisible to the other recipients. The bcc: recipients are not visible tothe other recipients, making the copy a private message. The e-mailmessage is merely a copy of the message send to one or more designatedrecipients (the “to:” recipients) and does not contain any informationother than the original e-mail content. In some cases the copiedrecipient may not understand the reason why they were copied or themeaning of the message content, therefore additional commentary orexplanation is desirable. In particular, with bcc: recipients, therecipient may think that the copied message is not intended for them, astheir address does not typically appear in the message header. Also, thecurrent copying features in e-mail programs, while making it simple tocopy additional recipients, fail to remind the user that commentary,explanation or clarification may be desired or that additionalinformation that the sender intends to provide to one or more copiedrecipients has not yet been communicated.

Explanations and commentary are often desirable associated with copiede-mail messages, but presently the only way to accomplish this is tosend an additional message to the copied recipients using the standardmechanism for generating new messages or forwarding a copy of apreviously sent mail (typically in alternative to using a cc: or bcc:feature) to one or more other recipients. However, the methods describedabove are inconvenient, requiring in the case of a new message enteringthe copied recipients' address and subject line and requiring pastingthe original message content if needed for commentary and reattachingattachments. In the case of a forwarded “sent” message, the subject linewill typically contain a “FW:” indicator which may cause the recipientto think that the message has a low priority, and if the forwardingmechanism is not for “quoted” text by default, the sender will not beable to intersperse comments, but may only add a message above theforwarded content.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and system forgenerating an e-mail transmission to copied recipients for providingadditional information for clarification, explanation or commentary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above objective of generating e-mail messages to copied recipientsfor providing additional information is achieved in a method and system.The method and system receive a user input indicating that an originale-mail message has been completed, determine whether or not a copiedrecipient is indicated, and in response to determining that a copiedrecipient is indicated, generating a new e-mail message for sendingadditional information to the copied recipient for clarification,explanation or commentary on the original e-mail message. The method maybe embodied in a computer program product containing programinstructions for execution within a general-purpose computer system.

The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following, more particular,description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustratedin the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a networked computer system in whicha preferred embodiment of the invention may be practiced.

FIG. 2 is a pictorial diagram depicting output of an e-mail programdisplayed on the graphic display of FIG. 1, having a user prompt inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a pictorial diagram depicting output of an e-mail programdisplayed on the graphic display of FIG. 1, for generating an additionalmessage in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting a method of operation of an e-mailgenerating system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 is a pictorial diagram depicting an exemplary control panel forsetting parameters of software implementing a method in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the figures and in particular to FIG. 1, a networkedcomputer system within which a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention may be practiced is depicted in a block diagram. To supporte-mail functions, an e-mail server 10 is coupled to the network via anetwork connection 11. Also coupled to the network is a personalcomputer 12 having a processor 16 coupled to a memory 17 for executingprogram instructions from memory 17. Memory 17 may include computerreadable media. Personal computer 12 is coupled to a graphical display13 for displaying program output and input devices such as a mouse 15and a keyboard 14 for receiving user input. The networked computersystem may be coupled to a public network such as the Internet, or maybe a private network such as the various “intra-nets” that areimplemented within corporate offices and other installations requiringsecure data communications.

Within memory 17, an e-mail program embodying a method in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention is executed byprocessor 16. Personal computer 12 is included to provide ademonstrative example of a general purpose computer, and it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that the techniques of thepresent invention apply to a variety of other e-mail applications suchas dedicated Internet appliances and large mainframe computers havinguser terminals. The present invention also applies to personal e-mailappliances such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and e-mail enabledpagers and cellular telephones.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an output of an e-mail program in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the invention is depicted. While theinvention is depicted with screens in American English language, theinvention may be adapted to other languages and other countries. E-mailprogram output 30 forms a user output on graphical display 13 to permita computer user to interact with the e-mail program executing withinpersonal computer 12. E-mail program output 30 has a frame with menuoptions and a message area 34 for entering the text of e-mail messagesvia keyboard 14. The e-mail message is sent by pressing a send button 33in response to which the e-mail message and any attachments are sent torecipient's e-mail server 10, with the set recipients determined by thesettings in the recipient lists entry area 31. The original recipients(To: recipients) are entered in “To:” list 31A, the carbon-copy (cc:recipients) are entered in “cc:” list 31B and the blind-carbon-copyrecipients are entered in the “bcc:” list 31C. A subject line is enteredin subject line entry area 39.

Alternatively, the e-mail message may be saved along with the customizedcharacteristics for later transmission by pressing a save button 32. Inresponse to completion of the e-mail message (by pressing send button 33or save button 32), the user may be queried by a prompt dialog 35.Prompt dialog 35 notifies the user that one or more copied recipientswere specified in cc: list entry area 31B and bcc: list entry area 31Cand provides the user with an option that will generate additionalmessages to the copied recipients. Individual messages may be generatedby selecting button 36 or a single message may be generated by selectingbutton 37. No additional message will be generated if the user declinesby selecting button 38. The above options are exemplary and otheroptions may ark be presented within prompt dialog 35 or configured via acontrol panel within the e-mail program that will be described in detailbelow. Generally, prompt dialog 35 may include options to generateseparate group messages to the cc: list and bcc: list, individualmessages for either group or both, and quotation options for repeatingthe content of the original message within the additional generatedmessage permitting in-line commentary.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a second graphical output of an e-mail programin accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is depicted.The output screen 30A depicted is generated in response to the userselecting one of buttons 36 or 37 from prompt dialog 35. Output screen30A represents the additional message generated and may be a newoverlaid window or may be the main e-mail program message window. In theexample screen 30A, the additional message is a message generated forthe bcc: recipient of FIG. 2 and the address of bcc: recipient isautomatically entered in a “To:” list 31D of output screen 30A. Multipleoutput screens may be generated in sequence for individual additionalmessages to each of the cc: and/or bcc: list entries if that option isselected (via button 36 or specified in the control panel) and “To:”list may contain more than one e-mail address when a single message isselected (via button 37) or selected via the control panel).Alternatively two output screens will be generated if the settings aresuch that an additional group e-mail message is to be generated for eachof the bcc: list and cc: list.

Text entry area 34B permits the insertion of explanatory information andquoted text 34C that may be optionally automatically inserted withintext entry area 34B, providing the user with editable text within whichcommentary may be interspersed. After the user has completed editing andentering text in text area 34B, the additional e-mail message may besent by selecting send button 33 or saved via save button 32. The methodof the present invention may be iterated by prompting the user at thispoint for additional copied recipients, permitting the user to copy thenew message to yet another recipient or to themselves forrecord-keeping.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a method in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention is depicted in a flowchart. When the e-mail senderprovides a user input indicating that an e-mail message is completed(step 50), the copy lists (cc: and/or bcc: depending on optionsselected) are checked for copied recipients (step 51) and if copyrecipients are specified (decision 52) the user is prompted to providean option of generating additional messages (step 53). If the userselects the option to generate additional messages (decision 54), one ormore additional messages are generated in one or more new windows toaccept further user text input for commentary, explanation orclarification (step 55). (The additional e-mail message are thenoptionally transmitted or saved in a conventional manner.)

Referring now to FIG. 5, a control panel 60 for configuring operatingparameters of software implementing a method in accordance with anembodiment of the invention is depicted. Control panel 60 is exemplaryand is included to illustrate some of the common options that may beprovided to control the operation of the above-described software.Option 61A provides for selection of application of the method of thepresent invention to e-mail messages (in essence an on/off switch) asapplied to bcc: or cc: recipients or both via selection boxes 62A.Option 61B provides the user the option of generating separate messagesto copied recipients on the bcc: and cc: lists via the associatedselection box 62B and option 61E provides the user the option ofautomatically copying the original subject line to the subject lineentry area within the new message(s). Option 61C provides the user theoption of automatically including the message text of the original emailmessage. Option 61D provides the user the option of automaticallyattaching the attachments provided in the original e-mail message.Control panel 60 can be configured once to set the default operation ofthe method of the present invention as embodied in an e-mail program.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form,and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for generating e-mail transmissions,comprising: receiving a user first input indicating that an original afirst e-mail message is complete; transmitting said original firste-mail message to all recipients indicated by a recipient list for saidoriginal email first e-mail message; determining whether or not at leastone copied recipient has been specified in said recipient list, wherebysaid original e-mail message has been transmitted to said at least onecopied recipient in said transmitting step; in response to determiningthat said at least one copied recipient has been specified, secondreceiving a second user input of further, said second user input havinginformation associated with said original first e-mail message;generating a new second e-mail message separate from said original firstemail message for transmission to said at least one copied recipient,wherein said further information associated with said original firste-mail message is inserted for transmission to said at least one copiedrecipient into said second e-mail message; and transmitting said newsecond e-mail message to said at least one copied recipient.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said user first input indicating that saidfirst e-mail message is complete is a user comprises input instructingan e-mail program to send said first e-mail message.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said user first input indicating that said first emailmessage is complete is a user comprises input instructing an e-mailprogram to save said email first e-mail message.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein said at least one copied recipient includes a carbon-copyrecipient and a blind carbon-copy recipient and wherein said generatinggenerates a first comprises generating the second e-mail message fortransmission to said carbon-copy recipient and a second third e-mailmessage for transmission to said blind-carbon-copy recipient.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said generating generates an additionalcomprises generating the second e-mail message having the with a samesubject line as said original first e-mail message.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said generating generates an additional comprisesgenerating the second e-mail message including with text quoted fromsaid original first email message.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid at least one copied recipient includes multiple copied recipients,and wherein said generating generates comprises generating multipleadditional e-mail messages each for transmission to a particular one ofsaid multiple copied recipients.
 8. A system for generating e-mailtransmissions, comprising: a memory for storing program instructions anddata; a processor coupled to said memory for executing said programinstructions; and a useran input device coupled to said processor forreceiving user input, wherein said program instructions includeinstructions for: receiving a user first input indicating that anoriginal a first e-mail message is complete; transmitting said originalfirst e-mail message to all recipients indicated by a recipient list forsaid original email first e-mail message; determining whether or not atleast one copied recipient has been specified in said recipient list,whereby said original e-mail message has been is transmitted to said atleast one copied recipient in said transmitting step; in response todetermining that said at least one copied recipient has been specified,second receiving a second user input of further, said second user inputhaving information associated with said original first e-mail message;generating a new second e-mail message separate from said original firste-mail message for transmission to said at least one copied recipient,wherein said further information associated with said original firste-mail message is inserted for transmission to said at least one copiedrecipient into said second e-mail message; and transmitting said newsecond e-mail message to said at least one copied recipient.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein said user first input indicating that saidfirst e-mail message is complete is a user comprises input instructingan email program to send said first e-mail message.
 10. The system ofclaim 8, wherein said user first input indicating that said first emailmessage is complete is a user comprises input instructing an emaile-mail program to save said first e-mail message.
 11. The system ofclaim 8, wherein said at least one copied recipient includes acarbon-copy recipient and a blind carbon-copy blind-carbon-copyrecipient, and wherein said program instructions for generating generatea first comprise program instructions for generating the second e-mailmessage for transmission to said carbon-copy recipient and a secondthird e-mail message for transmission to said blind-carbon-copyrecipient.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein said program instructionsfor generating generate an additional comprise program instructions forgenerating the second e-mail message having the with a same subject lineas said original first e-mail message.
 13. The system of claim 8,wherein said program instructions for generating generate an additionalemail comprise program instructions for generating the second e-mailmessage including with text quoted from said original e-mail first emailmessage.
 14. The system of claim 8, wherein said at least one copiedrecipient includes multiple copied recipients and wherein said programinstructions for generating generate comprise program instructions forgenerating multiple additional e-mail messages each for transmission toa particular one of said multiple copied recipients.
 15. A computerprogram product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer readablemedium containing program instructions for execution within a generalpurpose computer, wherein said program instructions comprise programinstructions for: receiving a user first input indicating that anoriginal a first e-mail message is complete; transmitting said originalfirst e-mail message to all recipients indicated by a recipient list forsaid original first e-mail message; determining whether or not at leastone copied recipient has been specified in said recipient list, wherebysaid original e-mail message has been transmitted to said at least onecopied recipient in said transmitting step; in response to determiningthat said at least one copied recipient has been specified, secondreceiving a second user input of further, said second user input havinginformation associated with said original first e-mail message;generating a new second e-mail message separate from said original firste-mail message for transmission to said at least one copied recipient,wherein said further information associated with said original emailfirst e-mail message is inserted for transmission to said at least onecopied recipient into said second e-mail message; and transmitting saidnew second e-mail message to said at least one copied recipient.
 16. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, wherein said user first inputindicating that said first e-mail message is complete is a usercomprises input instructing an e-mail program to send said first e-mailmessage.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said userfirst input indicating that said e-mail first email message is completeis a user comprises input instructing an e-mail program to save saidfirst e-mail message.
 18. The computer program product of claim 15,wherein said at least one copied recipient includes a carbon-copyrecipient and a blind carbon-copy blind-carbon-copy recipient, andwherein said program instructions for generating generate a firstcomprises generating the second e-mail message for transmission to saidcarbon-copy recipient and a second third e-mail message for transmissionto said blind-carbon-copy recipient.
 19. The computer program product ofclaim 15, wherein said program instructions for generating generate anadditional comprises generating the second e-mail message having thewith a same subject line as said original first e-mail message.
 20. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, wherein said program instructionsfor generating generate an additional comprises generating the seconde-mail message including with text quoted from said original e-mailfirst email message.
 21. The computer program product of claim 15,wherein said at least one copied recipient includes multiple copiedrecipients and wherein said program instructions for generating generatecomprises generating multiple additional e-mail messages each fortransmission to a particular one of said multiple copied recipients. 22.A method comprising: displaying a first e-mail message in a first e-mailmessage window, the first e-mail message window including at least: arecipient field; a carbon-copy recipient field; a message area; and atleast one of a send button or a save button; responsive to a selectionof the send button or save button, determining whether the carbon-copyrecipient field contains a recipient; and responsive to the first e-mailmessage being transmitted and determining that the carbon-copy recipientfield contains the recipient, automatically displaying a prompt windowthat includes an option to send a second email message to the recipientlisted in the carbon-copy recipient field, the prompt window furtherincluding an option to send a single group e-mail message or to sendindividual e-mail messages to the recipient and one or more additionalrecipients listed in the carbon-copy recipient field.
 23. The method asrecited in claim 22, further comprising: responsive to a selection ofthe option to send the second e-mail message to the recipient listed inthe carbon-copy recipient field, generating the second e-mail message ina second e-mail message window, the second e-mail message windowincluding at least the recipient listed in the carbon-copy recipientfield of the first e-mail message window in a second recipient field ofthe second e-mail message window.
 24. The method as recited in claim 22,further comprising transmitting the first e-mail message and the seconde-mail message.
 25. One or more non-transitory computer readable mediahaving stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed byone or more processors, perform operations comprising: displaying afirst e-mail message in a first e-mail message window, the first e-mailmessage window including at least: a recipient field; a carbon-copyrecipient field; a message area; and at least one of a send button or asave button; in response to the first e-mail message being transmitted,determining whether the carbon-copy recipient field contains a recipientresponsive to a selection of the send button; and automaticallydisplaying a prompt window that includes an option to send a seconde-mail message to the recipient listed in the carbon-copy recipientfield responsive to a determination that the carbon-copy recipient fieldcontains the recipient, the prompt window further including an option tosend a single group e-mail message or to send individual e-mail messagesto the recipient and one or more additional recipients listed in thecarbon-copy recipient field.
 26. One or more non-transitory computerreadable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the first e-mail messagewindow includes a save button.
 27. One or more non-transitory computerreadable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the first e-mail messagewindow includes a send button.
 28. One or more non-transitory computerreadable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the first e-mail messagewindow further includes a blind-carbon-copy recipient field.
 29. One ormore non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 28,wherein the prompt window further includes an option to send a separategroup message to one or more recipients listed in the blind-carbon-copyrecipient field.
 30. One or more non-transitory computer readable mediaas recited in claim 25, further comprising: responsive to a selection ofthe option to send the second e-mail message to the recipient listed inthe carbon-copy recipient field, generating the second e-mail message ina second e-mail message window, the second e-mail message windowincluding at least the recipient listed in the carbon-copy recipientfield of the first e-mail message window in a second recipient field ofthe second e-mail message window.
 31. One or more non-transitorycomputer readable media as recited in claim 30, wherein the seconde-mail message window includes text from the message area of the firste-mail message window.
 32. One or more non-transitory computer readablemedia as recited in claim 30, wherein the first e-mail message windowfurther includes a subject field, and wherein the second e-mail messagewindow includes text from the subject field of the first e-mail messagewindow.
 33. A system comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to theprocessor, the memory comprising computer program instructionsexecutable by the processor to perform operations comprising: displayinga first e-mail message in a first e-mail message window, the firste-mail message window including at least: a recipient field; acarbon-copy recipient field; a message area; and at least one of a sendbutton or a save button; responsive to the first e-mail message beingtransmitted, determining whether the carbon-copy recipient fieldcontains a recipient responsive to a selection of the send button; andautomatically displaying a prompt window that includes an option to senda second e-mail message to the recipient listed in the carbon-copyrecipient field responsive to a determination that the carbon-copyrecipient field contains the recipient, the prompt window furtherincluding an option to send a single group e-mail message or to sendindividual e-mail messages to the recipient and one or more additionalrecipients listed in the carbon-copy recipient field.
 34. The system asrecited in claim 33, wherein the first e-mail message window furtherincludes a subject field, and wherein the second e-mail message windowincludes text from the subject field of the first e-mail message window.35. A computer-implemented method comprising: creating a first e-mailmessage; responsive to a first selection of sending the first e-mailmessage to at least one recipient indicated for the first e-mailmessage, transmitting the first e-mail message and determining if thereis a copied recipient among the at least one recipient indicated for thefirst e-mail message; creating a second e-mail message addressed to eachsaid copied recipient determined among the at least one recipient inresponse to a second selection of sending the second e-mail message, thesecond e-mail message configured to receive further information input bya user; and transmitting the second e-mail message.
 36. Thecomputer-implemented method as recited in claim 35, wherein the seconde-mail message is addressed to the copied recipient and one or moreadditional copied recipients.
 37. The computer-implemented method asrecited in claim 35, further comprising creating one or more additionale-mail messages addressed to one or more additional carbon-copiedrecipients, wherein each of the one or more additional e-mail messagesis addressed to one of the one or more additional carbon-copiedrecipients.
 38. One or more non-transitory computer readable mediahaving stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed byone or more processors, perform operations comprising: creating a firste-mail message; responsive to a first selection of sending the firste-mail message to at least one recipient indicated for the first e-mailmessage, transmitting the first e-mail message and determining if thereis a copied recipient among the at least one recipient indicated for thefirst e-mail message; creating a second e-mail message addressed to eachsaid copied recipient determined among the at least one recipient inresponse to a second selection of sending the second e-mail message, thesecond e-mail message configured to receive further information input bya user; and transmitting the second e-mail message.
 39. One or morenon-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 38, furthercomprising determining if there is a blind-carbon-copied recipient inthe first e-mail message.
 40. One or more non-transitory computerreadable media as recited in claim 39, further comprising creating athird e-mail message addressed to the blind-carbon-copied recipient, thethird e-mail message configured to receive text.
 41. A systemcomprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, the memorycomprising computer program instructions executable by the processor toperform operations comprising: creating a first e-mail message;responsive to a first selection of sending the first e-mail message toat least one recipient indicated for the first e-mail message,transmitting the first e-mail message and determining if there is acopied recipient among the at least one recipient indicated for thefirst e-mail message; creating a second e-mail message addressed to eachsaid copied recipient determined among the at least one recipient inresponse to a second selection of sending the second email message, thesecond e-mail message configured to receive further information input bya user; and transmitting the second e-mail message.
 42. The system asrecited in claim 41, wherein the second e-mail message includes textquoted from the first e-mail message.
 43. The system as recited in claim41, wherein the second e-mail message include a same subject line as thefirst e-mail message.
 44. A method comprising: displaying an e-mailmessage window, the e-mail message window including at least a sendbutton and a recipient field; responsive to receiving a selection of thesend button and the e-mail message being transmitted, determiningwhether the recipient field contains more than one recipient; andresponsive to determining that the recipient field contains more thanone recipient, automatically displaying a window that includes an optionto send one or more additional e-mail messages to one or more of therecipients listed in the recipient field, the window further includingan option to send a single group e-mail message or to send individuale-mail messages to the more than one recipient listed in the recipientfield.
 45. The method as recited in claim 44, further comprising:responsive to a selection of the option to send one or more additionale-mail messages to one or more of the recipients listed in the recipientfield, generating one or more additional e-mail messages in one or moreadditional e-mail message windows, each of the one or more additionale-mail message windows including at least one of the one or morerecipients listed in the recipient field of the email message window inthe recipient field of the one or more additional e-mail messagewindows.
 46. A computer-implemented method comprising: creating ane-mail message; responsive to a first selection of sending the e-mailmessage to at least one recipient indicated for the e-mail message,transmitting the e-mail message and determining if the e-mail message isaddressed to more than one recipient among the at least one recipientindicated for the e-mail message; creating one or more additional e-mailmessages addressed to another recipient of the at least one recipientdetermined in response to a second selection of sending the one or moreadditional e-mail messages, the one or more additional e-mail messagesconfigured to receive further information input by a user; andtransmitting the one or more additional e-mail messages.